My dog suffered a lot because of incompetence

AFTER TAKING MY AKC-bred dog to the box store veterinarian, I had to pay $3,000 out of my pocket or put the dog to sleep because of a toxic combination of drugs given to him by the owner/veterinarian.

There are things I’m going to tell you I wish someone would have told me before I walked into a pet box store and put my trust into what I thought was a professional, licensed veterinarian.

Many veterinarians within these box stores own the practice, not the main business with national cute slogans or catchy phrases enticing one’s family. These (so-called) owners can sell their practice and leave town on a moment’s notice. Also, and most importantly, most big-box pet store veterinarians file business papers as an limited liability company (LLC), which is not a corporation. “Limited liability” means what it says.

Drugs, many of them quite expensive, were given to my dog during the span of several years. The toxic reaction of the drugs was slow but gradual once they took hold. The box store licensed veterinarian gave my dog these drugs, which reacted in such a way as to totally burn the tear ducts and all lubricants from my dog’s eyes. During the next six months, our family spent $1,000 on eye medications, which did very little but keep him from going blind.

Not desiring to put my dog to sleep because of human error, but not wanting to pay $2,000 for surgery, I looked into suing the veterinarian/owner or the business that caused the eye damage. I could not find any lawyer who would take on such a case for $5,000 or $7,000. Meanwhile, I found out that the veterinarian who did the damage moved to Washington. Even if I won a small-claims case, I would have to hunt down the money a half a dozen states away.

Furthermore, I learned through about 20 hours of research that an LLC business cannot be sued in small-claims court by a private party. So, even though the veterinarian worked for an established name that has been around for umpteen years, I could not take the them to small-claims court. In essence, an incompetent veterinarian messed up my dog’s tear ducts (which will never be 100 percent), even after salivary-gland-to-tear-duct surgical repair of $2,000.

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My wife and I no longer have to lubricate our dog’s eyes with three bottles and a tube eight times a day. Our dog did have to wear a plastic cone around his head for two weeks after his surgery, because I refused to pay another grand because he is an animal and does not understand human ineptitude. Our beautiful salt-and-pepper schnauzer now leaks constant red saliva stain underneath his eye, but at least, he has regained his spunk because he no longer looks through cloudy glass.

And the veterinarian who did the damage has moved on, probably to open a new practice, one where she can dish out expensive and debilitating drugs like candy.

Douglas Seaman, a Greeley resident, is the author of the new book “Teaching, Terror & The Truth.”